They don’t come much more understated than Bashir Mason when you’re talking basketball coaches.

In his chosen business, the second-year Wagner College man is the closest thing you’ll find to a wallflower.

Now, don’t get me wrong. He’ll raise a voice at practice (he is a basketball coach after all).

And occasionally bend the ear of referees (hey, that’s just part of the job description).

But he’s no combustible Bobby Knight or Jim Calhoun type on the sidelines, is the point.

Or even a clone of his former boss, the demonstrative Danny Hurley.

Which is what made Mason’s ejection in Wednesday’s 94-76 loss to University of Illinois-Chicago something of a shock.

“I’ve never been thrown out of a game in my life,” declared the four-year Drexel University point guard and former head coach and assistant at national power St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark. “Not in high school, not college, not as an assistant and not as head coach.”

Not even back in the Boys’ and Girls’ Club in hometown Jersey City?

“Nope,” said Mason, who picked up a pair of second-half technical fouls and was tossed in the closing minutes of a ragged affair in which the two teams were called for a combined 44 personal fouls and Wagner was assessed five technical fouls. “I’d never even had a technical called on me.”

Problem for Mason is there is a school policy that stipulates coaches sit out the next game following an ejection. That would mean him not being available for Tuesday’s Spiro Center matchup with Lafayette.

There’s a process in which a coach can appeal to athletic director Walt Hameline before a final ruling is made, and Mason is pursuing that possibility.

“I’m going to be speaking to Walt on Monday,” he said. “I hope I have a chance.”

If the suspension stands associate head coach Mike Babul will take over sideline duties for the Lafayette game. Babul was the Drexel director of basketball ops for the Dragons when Mason was carving out an all-conference career at the Philly school.

LEOPARDS CAN SCORE

Whoever is in the first seat on the Wagner bench vs. Lafayette, the challenge will be the same: Slowing down a potent offense that is averaging 77.2 points and 9.5 made threes per game.

The Leopards had a rocky five-game skid to begin the season, but two of those losses came in overtime and they appeared much crisper in Saturday’s 79-76 win over Penn. In that one, team high scorer Seth Hinrichs scored 28 points, firing away at 6 of 10 from three-point range.

And guard Joey Ptasinski brought his usual firepower off the Lafayette bench, scoring 16 points including three 3-pointers.

“They’re a veteran group that can really stretch the floor on you with their perimeter game,” Mason observed after watching some film on the Leopards, who have fallen twice in a row to the Seahawks in 2010-11 and 2011-12. “If you don’t guard well, they will absolutely score the ball. That’s going to be our challenge.”

The 6-7 Hinriches may not be as explosive as national scoring leader, Niagara’s Antoine Mason, who is averaging 31.4 ppg.

But the son of former Knick Anthony Mason is currently shooting 25.6 percent from three-point range, while Hinrichs is connecting on half (50 percent) of his long-ball attempts.

What Mason is really looking for is a bounce-back following the UIC loss that came on the heels of an impressive win over Stetson and a very competitive nail-biting loss to a solid St. Bonaventure team, all in Florida’s Gulf Coast Showcase.

“I thought we showed how good we could really be and how bad we could be,” he said of Wagner’s play in the three-game-in-three-day tourney. “Now it’s time to make a statement about who we want to be the rest of the season.” 

HITTING THE ROAD

Following the Lafayette game, Wagner heads out on a four-game road trek vs. Penn, Rider, LaSalle, and finishing up at Monmouth on Dec. 30. 

FINDING A ROUTINE

Wagner has settled into a rotation that has 6-8 Orlando Parker (7.6 ppg, 6 rpg), 6-0 Marcus Burton (11 ppg, 2.6 apg) and 6-3 Dwaun Anderson (4.3 ppg) first off the bench, with Parker and Burton averaging 21 minutes of playing time per game.